Big lesson -Consumerism

Consumerism

Consumerism is now not only an economical, psychological or sociological issue. It is now an environmental situation. Consumerism as people already know it, has some processes involved. At the beginning, they think they need something, so they decide to go and buy it. However, it is well known that most of the people around the world do not know what to do with the good when they are not going to used them any more. This is one if the reasons, this situation is an environmental issue. Because at the end of the day, people are accumulating waste of things that are not environmentally friendly. The reason I decided to choose this topic is because I like to buy thing when sometime I do not need them. I felt that working in this topic would give the opportunity to explore more about the issues around consumerism. I thought that when I knew the facts, it would make me reflect and change in some way my mind. However, I did not need read anything at the beginning, I was so impressed with the pictures, messages, logos and all the images I could see.

When I knew about the assignment I felt terrified. I had not done before something like that. But, One I saw the pictures, I felt enough inspired and motivated to do something and communicate a massage which touch people. To begin I selected lot of images which impressed me. Then I try to organize the way I wanted to see the video. For me, was clear since the beginning: I wanted to follow a process. So I designed my video in that way. For me, was easy learned how to make a video with images and how to add music to it. I think that one of the most difficult think was think in the proper sound for the video, because in my case, the video needed three different sounds to emphasis the specific message of the pictures. But then, that as well was easy, because I realized the kind of music I felt was appropriate for each part. For me was important to show the different stages of the consumerism. It was not about to exaggerate, It is the reality, all of us are in a moment when we cannot wait any more and we have to react now. So, I wanted to demonstrate people that when they buy goods something could be happening behind the extraction, production or distribution line, and then how all our waste is contaminating the water, sea, our cities and forest. However, I feel that is significantly important give the responsibility to people. It is true, that most of the contamination of the planet is because of the companies, but our irresponsible behaviour, demanding cheap and unnecessary good and then generating amount of waste is making thing worst. People should know that we have alternatives: We can recycle and separate the waste, reuse goods and create new ones, refuse or say No to bad behaviour which are not environmental friendly and of course rethink the way we are making decisions.

This learning process was really practical and deep. I think that the best way to encourage people to do or change something is involving them. I felt involved in this assignment, it was like a project for me. I want people to understand the consequences of consumerism and find their own way to do things better. I think I used many important details to capture the attention of the people, such as images, not many text and powerful music. Also, this is a useful exercise to learn a good way to manage the time, because the huge message should be delivered in 59 seconds. At the end of doing my video, this was sent to friends that do not know about my assignment, so they could do critical comments about them. Actually, they thought it was a real viral, some of them found the video interesting, of course I tried to make improvements when people make some suggestion, and now I feel proud of the result.

I have to say that this assignment taught me more that I thought. It was not only the way to learn how to use Movie Maker. It was my way to communicate my feeling and thoughts about a real situation. This was related to the coming season: Christmas. Black Friday or Boxing Day, are making people feel that they need take advantage of these discounts and the offers. So, I am thinking to share the video with people. Now I can see clearly how consumerism play with our minds and make us selfish. I have to say, that know I think twice before to buy something, because I ask if I really need that I want to buy and if this product will bring me any benefit. I think this is becoming a critical issue for me. We are being consumed of the idea of having everything someone offer to us. The current economic system are exploiting the resources and polluting them, to supply the needs others create for us. We are becoming so demanding and this has social, environmental and economic effects. But the worst part is that we are being neglected with this issues, we should be aware of the consequences in a long term control and take care more about our behaviour. My video wants to show the reality, but at the same time, show alternatives and solution to avoid a real crisis in the future.